Updating a 1988 Skamper 072S

xdbx

Adventurer
This thread is being assembled to chronicle my Skamper's rebuild, but also as a much needed collective knowledge thread. Please feel free to chime in! :wavey:

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xdbx

Adventurer
Background

Here's some history on my personal camper:

it was purchased from a younger gentleman in the Cleveland, OH area. It arrived to me in a structurally sound state, but with very few working appliances, and a majority of the wiring hodge-podged with wire nuts and electrical tape. I removed a hastily installed CD deck and outdoor speakers, the wire nutted "fuse panel", and used the heck out of it for a while.

At the time, I had a 2007 RAM 1500, 4.7L with a 6spd manual, that I grew quite fond of. As you can see, I had it packed down well numerous times...

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xdbx

Adventurer
This year, the truck was traded in, and I transitioned my beach-colored barnacle to another RAM! :smiley_drive:

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And closer to current:

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xdbx

Adventurer
Replacing the roof vent:

Earlier this year, I devised a way to lower the camper down onto a 4x8 trailer for storage inside a garage. Unfortuantely, I clipped the roof of the garage door one day, and ripped the cover off the roof vent. Went on the trip anyway. I ended up ziptieing a thick garbage bag around the protruding opening, and it held.

When I got home, I got to replacing the vent. As you may find found, it's very difficult to find a replacement vent. My skamper came with a 8.5" square vent, with an opaque cover, and no fan. It was a low profile cover. A typical cover these days is 14" square, and I was uncomfortable removing that much material for fear of reducing the structural rigidity of the roof. So, I found the smallest one I could, a 9.25 inch "mini vent" used for bathrooms.

Here is the original vent removed.... missing the cover. :oops:

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Clean break:

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The replacement:

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Original hole:

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New vent housing on the original hole:

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All done:

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Curing the first round of clear silicone:

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xdbx

Adventurer
Then, I started working on all the little things that bugged me.

I completely disassembled the furnace, since I couldnt find a service manual, and taking it to an RV shop returned a "you need a new $600 furnace" and "they dont make what you need any more". Turned out It just didnt have a good 12v source. I cleaned it all, and then did something stupid. I put the "thermal fuse" above a lighter to "check if it worked". Beware! This is NOT a thermistor. It's a ceramic burnable filament. That means it's a ONE TIME USE. No wonder it quit. The part the RV shop was referring to was this little $9 element. I just searched "152* ceramic" and found one from an RV parts vendor in California. Fixed!

My furnace "test-rig"

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Next, I decided to redo the look of the camper. Tore up the floor, removed the curtains, and requested my awesome girlfriend remake me some micro-suede cushions. I also replaced all the handles with brushed aluminum ones, as Paul did in his skamper thread. They did indeed make a big difference, to me at least.

Here's how the interior began:

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xdbx

Adventurer
Floor torn up:

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The floor was a lot thinner than I thought. I would compare it to vinyl wall paper instead of linoleum. In hindsight, I'd just lay new vinyl over the old. Tearing it up was completely unnecessary.
 

xdbx

Adventurer
Exploring up north one weekend, I came across some low hanging branches, and misjudged my clearance. I shattered this plastic corner bracket, and cracked the other. Unfortunately, I didnt know it, so I never found the missing pieces in order to try and fiberglass the entire thing like Paul had done in his 060S.

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I made this mold with a heat gun and some thin plexi glass, then formed natural clay into it, and let it cure. This rough shape resulted:

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and the resulting "corner"

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I did this for a couple reasons, mainly that I cant find a quality resin at West Marine that will cure outside at this temperature, so I wanted a way to lay the fiberglass over "inside".

Luckily, I'll be able to sand this down and make a "run" of corner brackets. If you run across some issues with your brackets, let me know. As far as I could tell, these brackets are NOT source-able anywhere else.
 

xdbx

Adventurer
This past week, I spent some time fixing the wiring. I covered the cut up panel with some textured plastic and was surprised how well it turned out. I got this circuit breaker panel setup instead of the stupid glass finger fuses.

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Here's my first attempt at laying vinyl. These are 12" square vinyl pieces I got at the local Lowes. $0.89 a piece.

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Unfortunately, I did this in a rush and didnt take the time to cut the the squares properly. If you're re-doing your floor, take note to take measurements ALL ALONG THE FLOOR! I measured at the head of the camper, and thought it was perfectly rectangular. It isnt. Maybe mine was built on a friday....

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xdbx

Adventurer
When lounging in the evening after a nice ride with my buddies, I found myself wanting some dimmer lights. So, I wired in these cheesy cold cathodes I used to use in a computer I built when I was a young'n.

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xdbx

Adventurer
Next up is installing some quarter round molding around the floor/wall, switching the overhead lights to LED's, finishing the wiring of a dual battery setup, finishing up the cusions, hanging the curtains, re-sanitizing the whole drinking water system, finding the 12v lead for the fridge....... and working on these stupid corner brackets. :coffee:
 

ToolBox Guy

Adventurer
Really cool!!!

I have the exact model Skamper, and I am also in need of some corner brackets.
Mine is a 1990, and the 2 front corners are the cast aluminum ones that I believe you would find on an older Northstar or maybe it was Hallmark campers, I cant remember. But the 2 rears are still plastic and are broken.

So when you pulled out the vent,it looks like there is some good plywood in the roof? I am interested in installing some small cabinets inside and did not know if the roof had that kind of structure.

Keep up the good work, I dig the interior lighting.
 

xdbx

Adventurer
Thanks for the compliments! My opinion was that the roof was a lot more sturdy than I was led to believe reading posts online. Looking at the picture again, I'd say it was ~4ply construction. It supported my 130lb frame as I worked up there just fine, although I'm still unsure if its 2 piece and seemed in the middle, or that's just the connection of the aluminum siding.

I'll write you for 2 extra corners.

Also, you should send Paul (SLO_F-250) a note. He seems to know his wood, and did add some overhead cabinets that I plan to emulate down the road.

Here are a few photos I snagged from his thread:

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ToolBox Guy

Adventurer
I had seen those a while back, thanks for posting them up in here. Not sure if I have the clearance in my camper where the roof lifting bar swings into the living space, the bar looks to be lower on his.

I would like to check dimensions with yours also, I would find it hard to believe that they changed that dimension within a couple of years.
 

xdbx

Adventurer
Sure thing. I"ll get some measurements tonight.

Unfortunately, I've had bad luck with my carpentry projects in the looks department. I made a very nice standoff shelf similar to space up the camper and clear the cab, that i'll detail in another post, but I'm hesitant to do something inside like his.

I've been garbage picking all the dressers and drawers I come across, and I'm just 1 more enclosure away from a nice flip down and pull out type arrangement. I'm thinking of doing something similar to what is pictured above, but instead of pulling out, I want them to pivot down to about 30*, then slide down, so I can pluck things out, instead of dig to them.
 

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